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Movement Frames and African Women's Explanations for Opposing Female Genital Cutting

University of Minnesota, USA

Kristin Carbone-López

University of Miami, USA

This article addresses how people account for their beliefs and what social factors affect or determine those accounts. Considering the explanations women in five African countries give for their opposition to female genital cutting (FGC), we empirically examine the link between movement adherence and frame resonance. Although international anti-FGC activists employ medical and human rights frames to combat the practice, we find most of the women surveyed do not use these frames to account for their opposition to FGC. Rather, they tend to explain their opposition simply by stating female genital cutting is a ‘bad tradition.’ Based on descriptive statistics and the results of HGLM analyses, we conclude that 1) the importance of frame resonance for movement adherence varies across groups, 2) frame resonance is less important to ‘adherents’ whose supportive attitudes predate mobilization, 3) personal factors, such as being circumcised, exposure to western influence, and independence, increase the likelihood that adherents will link into international activist frames, and 4) the medical frame is more persuasive than the human rights frame for African anti-FGC adherents.

Key Words: female genital cutting • frame resonance • neo-institutionalism

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